05-15-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to it Broncos Country tonight.But with all Brian Dick, Ferguson,

(00:03):
Grant Smith, Nick, how youdoing this evening? I'm doing spectacular.
We had the schedule finally get arelease, the satisfying release. It was,
Uh, we look at this thingand we open with at Seattle and
we got Russ Wilson coming to townweek two. And there's not a lot
of things I think on the scheduleto get excited about all to primetime games.

(00:25):
Uh, but I will say that, you know, opening night is
always exciting, and your home openeris the return of Russ. That's going
to be a very interesting game forso many reasons. And obviously you could
have a divided fan base as thoughit was here when Russ was here.
There were some guys pro Russ andsome that were against Russ. But I

(00:50):
don't think it's by chance that thatgame was put week two. Now,
we all knew this be totally honest, full of transparency. We knew all
about the teams that the Broncos weregoing to play. The only thing that
we did not know was when andwhere right and it's common anywhere. We
knew the home and away well,I mean, we knew home and away,

(01:11):
but like we didn't know what timeit was gonna be a prime time
game or not. But this game, in my mind was strategically plays week
two for a reason. I thinkit was gonna be based on some intel
I have, I think the gamewas originally going to be Week one and
ultimately wound up being Weak two dueto some scheduling conflicts with Atlanta not being
able to play Pittsburgh and they inorder to make that work and or make

(01:32):
those schedules work, so ultimately awound up that the Broncos and Steelers square
off in Week two. Yeahoo Sportshas already come out with their ten most
anticipated games and that game made thatlist. Well, I'm not surprised,
and nationally that is a game peoplehave their eyn Well, yeah, because
think about the level of controversy thator storylines. Better yet, storylines surrounding

(01:56):
that particular game go back to whenthe Broncos played the Jets. It was
it was the same thing based onwhat was said in training camp by coach
Sean Payton, and then it wasalmost like a rap beef in a sense
that sizz you know, it saysthem for a second and then it fizzled
out. Were we draking that onewhere we just got whipped? You know

(02:16):
what, I don't know. Idon't know if you could say the Broncos
they hacket Kender Lamar, No,you know what, it could it could
have made the Broncos Jay Cole becauseJa Cole was in it for a minute,
but then he was like, youknow what, I'm out. Yeah,
And the Broncos were in that gamefor a minute and then they're like,
no, we're out of it.So once again, just like that
game had a lot of storylines,this will happen a lot of storylines for

(02:39):
so many reasons. Uh, there'sother games in the schedule that have storylines,
but this is one of those gamesthat Broncos fans will circle. I
think. So I've got a circle. I mean like the national media has
a circle. They've come out.Like I said, there's top ten lists
already out and that's one of themost anticipated games of the season. And
it's not even like a primetime game. Broncos only had two primetime games out
in New Orleans and they got theCleveland Browns on Monday Night Football here New

(03:00):
Orleans on Thursday Night Football later inthe season. But that Week two game,
you got everybody putting on their topten must seelists and you're talking about
a two twenty five kick in theafternoon. Once again, the obvious storyline
has a lot to do with RussellWilson returning to Denver. But to me,
they're more intricate parts because Sean Payton, you know, Mike Tomlin story

(03:22):
franchise, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers. Look, man, I still have
yet to get over that two thousandand six loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers to
go to the super Bowl. Andit seems though every time we would talk
about playoffs and super Bowls, therewould be certain teams right there, be
Baltimore and be the Patriots, theBroncos, and then also the Pittsburgh Steelers.

(03:44):
Well, the Steelers haven't gotten overthe fact that a slant pass in
overtime them from the playoffs. Wouldyou talk about Tim Tebow and nim Marius
Thomas. We fulfilled our Tim teboquid, which refresh show there by the
way that legally obligated dimension him onceevery show. So I mean, I'm
not I think that there's a storyhistory there and there could be additions to

(04:04):
the Steelers between now and then thatmight make it even spicier. You know
what if I if I'm not mistaken, and I don't want to say that
I'm reading your mind because I don'twant to be in that minefield of your
mind. I want to read,but you're you are Carl Xavier would give
up his powers, okay for one, Benjamin all, but the idea that

(04:28):
justin Simmons, he is still available. He's still available. So that that's
what you're kind of pushing out there, the idea that and if it did,
it would add definitely to the storylinesof that story. Those two players
coming back here to face their wholeteam. Man, that's always tough,
Ben, That is always tough whenyou when you leave a team. Like
when I left here and I wentto go play for the Texans, when

(04:54):
when the Broncos came down there.I think it might have been a preseason
game. I mean everything about you, even though it's preseason game. You
want to win that game. Hey, that's the game you would have win
me, right, you should havekept me. That's the proven game,
Like you should have kept me game. Yeah, Like if you get dumped
by a chick and you know,all of a ud you want to show
over the concert with yes, well, no, no, no, no.
The first idea is you want tostep out and your fly is gear

(05:16):
for one, It starts right there. That's why I you bring Grant Smith
law okay and his mustache right exactly? So you want to show that I
have cried all my tears, I'vegotten over you and life has moved on
much better. Yes, because I'mhappy. Because I'm happy. Sometimes you
may not be as happy as youpresent, but that's kind of the idea,

(05:39):
right, No, I get it, and that is the thing.
Also, the Steel has been callingaround about wide receivers. I don't know
if the Broncos are going to deal, don't you. I don't know what
they are. Why did you haveto say we're just still holding out?
Okay, of all places, becausethey are a team that a is looking
for a wide receiver and B hasa quarterback that knows that wide receiver and

(06:00):
had a very good connection with Theyalready have wide receivers. They had George
Pickens and Jefferson is a number fouron any roster. They just slot guy.
They got Quas Watkins, who's aslot guy. Scotty Miller is a
slot guy. Calvin Austin who's thenumber five, Denzel Millmes who couldn't make
the Jets roster, and former Broncosays what wide receiver Marcus Calloway. It

(06:20):
couldn't even cracked the Broncos roster lastyear. Hey, we're not trying to
give more receivers. I'm not tryingto give more receivers to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I'm simply saying that there is ateam out there looking for receivers and
you've got a dissatisfied one here whowants a new contract, who is holding
out currently. So I just justput it out there. There are some
possibilities with some of this stuff.The Steelers defense, by the way,

(06:45):
is really the thing. While theoffense will get talked about because of Russ's
return, the defense over there issomething that I think people should pay attention.
They're gonna be good. They've gotPatrick, they had to Patrick Quinton
and inside backer they obviously everybody knows. They've got TJ. At Watt and
Cam Hayward. They got Lario Gajobiover there. Now Alex Heismith still on
the outside as well. They addedPeyton Wilson in the draft at the inside

(07:06):
backer. They've got some talent onthat defense. Of course, Niko Fitzpatrick
back there the versatal defensive back aswell. Well. That's the thing that
makes these early games so important becausesometimes it's best to catch teams before they
get into some kind of rhythm andflow of the game. And catching the
stillers early it might prove beneficial becausewhen you look at from top to bottom

(07:30):
how that defensive roster actually set up, that's a group of guys that can
still get after the quarterback and forceturnovers. And we're talking about a young
quarterback either whether it's Bow Knicks orZach Wilson or hell it could be Jared
Stidham. That could present a lotof issues. And for me, I

(07:50):
think Joey Porter Jr. Will bebetter, you know, in the second
year. And with that pass rushcoming up field, it has the potential
to make life a little miserable forthe Broncos offensive line. But we did
see the Broncos offensive line play welllast season against another defensive group and the

(08:11):
Cleveland Browns, So you never knowwhat the game plan is going to be
like a little different front. Obviously, Cleveland uses his four down linemen up
front, and the trap game waswildly successful against that. Yeah, Steelers
run more of a thirty four withsome forty six principles in there. So
it'll be interesting at the end ofthe day to see exactly what it is
that that game. That game bringson Archer Smith, the offensive coordinator,

(08:33):
and then you're familiar with special teamscoordinator for the Steelers, Danny Smith.
Yes, my god, Daddy,we go, we go way back,
and you know coach Smith, obviouslyI haven't had a chance to stay connected
to him. You know, overthe years, he's done a hell of
a job with the Pittsburgh still wasin the special teams unit. And it's
going to be interesting with the newchanges to the kickoff rule how everyone not

(08:56):
only runs it defensively, but allso from return scheme because they got that
guy Cordro Patterson, and that dudeis a monster. He reminds me of
the guy I played the games whoplayed with the Cleveland Brown's Josh Cribs,
Because yeah, I mean, justto see every lane and strong lower body
where he can run through arm tackle. So that's going to present a lot

(09:18):
of challenge for offense Defense as specialton. You get Josh on the show,
let me reach out to him realquick, and we're doing all that.
I want to send him, goright ahead. I talked to him a
minute. You just reminded me like, crap, I haven't talked too well.
Yeah wait wait wait wait you havehis number even though he's a guy.
Did you have to ask him?Yes? Remember, oh, he
just gave he just wait wait wait, he just gave it to you without

(09:41):
you even asking. That's what yousay. Well, it was more of
a hey, I want to getyou on to talk about special teams kind
of things. And he's like,here's the number to call. So you
asked. I didn't ask a greatnumber. I said, I want to
get said, I want to getyou on. No, you said that
you've never asked. I didn't havea guy's phone, nun I didn't ask,
did I did not? You justyou just be the implication was there.

(10:05):
I did not physically ask for anyone'snumber. Can I have your number
to maybe have Nick Ferguson grat Smithhere with you. One other thing I
want to say before we get offthe Steelers. Here the wide receiver coach
zach Zani, zach Zani or Morocco'swide receiver coach. See, this is
where you're trying to connect the dots, connect anything so you can play it
out. That's all I A therest of the schedule, that's all you

(10:28):
were trying to do. Would neverdo such a thing. Is there any
games on here that just you gotcircled You're like, hey, yeah,
I'm looking forward to that. Well, obviously you get the Pittsburgh game,
you get the Cleveland game, ofcourse, but then for me, it
is looking in I guess the monthof November, so we're talking week nine

(10:48):
through week twelve. So during thatperiod, I mean, you got the
Ravens on the Row, Casey onthe Row Falcons, and then you have
the Raiders, so that it's kindone of the those months. I mean,
yeah, the Raiders in the Bronx, So at that particular point,
like Broncos fans, that's where you'reonly going to see the team wants.
But those are very pivotal games becauseyou know, you didn't beat the Raiders,

(11:11):
right, you haven't been the Raidersfor a while. And we're talking
about not the Oakland Rivers. They'venever beat the Las Vegas Ers. The
Denver Broncos have never beaten the LasVegas Raiders, so at some point the
Broncos have to get over that.But when you look at those teams,
all competitive teams, and you're expectingthe Falcons to be more competitive with Kirk

(11:33):
Cousins and the phone. So sothat those are the four games that I
circle like, if the Broncos canget out of that, you know,
and in decent fashion, and andonce again, you want the Broncos to
win every single game, But rightnow, it's about how competitive can you
be from week to week? Yeah, you start the season off with three
out of four road games, theSteelers the only home game that you get.

(11:54):
Uh, Then you get the Raiders. Chargers to home games back to
back division games. Then you're offto New Orleans on Thursday night? Foot
do we care about that? ButI mean, there's an obvious storyline in
Sean Payton returning to New Orleans.But do we really care about that?
Well, yeah you do. It'sa game on your on your schedule.
You don't care about that. Withthat regard, I'm saying, do we
care about that storyline returning to rant? This is the NFL and every storyline

(12:18):
actually matter because there's so many coachescurrently on the Broncos coaching staff what ties
to New Orleans, especially on theoffensive side of the ball. So yeah,
it matters because you have Sean Paytongoing against Dennis Allen, who was
a defensive coordinator when Sean Payton wasa head coach, right, So that
storyline always plays. And then youhave Derek Carr Pete carmichaels the offensive corner.

(12:39):
You know who's who's there a staffnow, you know, top bet
Pete Carmichael wants to get back.Yeah, probably was one they came back,
especially since Dennis Allen basically sold himout and said we wanted to update
the offense, so we fired Petewent on and got you know, a
koobiak. And here's here's a greatthing about it. It works the same
way for coaches as it works forplayers. You are or coaching or playing

(13:01):
against your former team. Yeah,you want that get back and if there's
anything that you learned in that timeyou were with that team, you're gonna
use that. You're gonna add thatto the arsenal. Absolutely in five six
sixty nine Zeros text line, youguys want to get involved in the conversation.
We had quite a few good textscoming in. Stacy from Utah said,
Hey, Ben, Hey Nick,I just want to tell you guys,

(13:22):
thanks for the opportunity to win ticketsto an AFC West game. My
wife and I were calling like crazy. She was called her one, I
was called her four. We barelymissed. But love you guys. Show
listen to every night at work.Keep up the good work. Up you
listening, Hey stays, we loveyou. We love when you leave the
talk backs, We love we leavethe text man. We always appreciate your
listenership. And sorry you didn't getthe tickets, but we're gonna be giving
away more tickets throughout the sumber Threattraining camp and all that kind of stuff,

(13:45):
So you be listening. We'll havea chance to get you some more
tickets on that to any one ofthese games that are that are coming up.
The last part of the schedule,you got the Monday night football game
December second against the Browns. Thenyou hit the late bye week a week
fourteen by week, man, that'stough for a young team. It is,
man, and there's certain things whenthe schedule come out that you look

(14:05):
for and for me, the firstthing I look for when the hell is
the bye week. You don't wantit too early, you don't want it
too late, but you wanted itright in the middle. Right. Isn't
that that kind of a story aboutsomeone who just wanted to porridge jazz?
Right? Right? Right? That'sexactly what you look for, right,
Yeah, yeah, there's like yousee it now. We don't have time

(14:28):
for this, but I'm gonna getderailed he real quick. How can we
always view Goldie Luctions as a goodguy in that story? Like, didn't
she break it in? Turn intothese bands and these bears are just trying
to list she just broke in waslike sleeping in the bed either food,
yeah, anything. She's a badguy. Yeah. For for years we
were told that, hey, that'swhat you can do, right, But
I wouldn't encourage you for the breakinto someone else? How home and put

(14:50):
your feet on the sofa, butdirty feet and then eat their porridge?
You know, no, you thinkit's something that you want to you don't
want to do. But the weekfalls rather late in the schedule for the
Broncos and with the Slady games earlyin the season, with the potential to
get your guys beat up. Thisis why I'm glad the Broncos did not

(15:11):
give up draft capital and players whomove up to get a quarterback, because
you're gonna need adequate depth to getthrough the season. Yeah, it's gonna
be tough with the body to gofourteen weeks without any kind of buy as
far as I mean, you getthe de facto buy after the Thursday night
game, where you get the tenday kind of rest period, which which
would help a little bit. Theother interesting quirk I guess is the in

(15:31):
between week twelve and Week thirteen,you get the Raiders on Sunday, you
know, at the Raiders, Andby the way, that's f one week
out there in Las Vegas. Soit's gonna be a madhouse out there in
Las Vegas. But then you getthe Monday night game against the Browns after
that. Now that's the Thanksgiving weekin between there, so you get an
extra day after the Turkey to kindof, you know, kind of be
with the family and all that.So there are some some sort of built

(15:52):
in tiny little little caveats there.We got to hit a break. We
come back with talk with Parker Gabriel. We're gonna break down the schedule a
little bit further. See what hethinks of it. I want to hear
you, guys, most anticipated gamefive, six, six nine, zeros
a tech sign you listen to BroncosCountry Night right here on Kiawah. Welcome
back to it, Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Albrighten, Nick Ferguson, Grant
Smith here with you, NFL ScheduleShow Edition. I've been talking about various

(16:15):
different games on there right now,the UH. Looking at some of the
national media, it looks like thisis this Broncos Steelers game. He's of
interest nationally. Bronco's not getting alot of primetime games. Only at the
Saints on Thursday Night Football Week sevenand home against the Browns Monday Night Football
Week thirteen. It'll be at thethat's the UH, the Monday after Thanksgiving,
so it'll be that'll be interesting.Let's go out to the KWA a

(16:37):
common sparrel hotline and bring on ourguy from the Different Post, Parker Gabriel
Mark. Are you doing man?Doing pretty well? First things first,
I gotta clear something up here becauseNick Ferguson revealed on the show last week
that he had absolutely no idea whatOnlyFans was. And I was like,
you're here, buddy, amongst friends. Your wife's not listening right now,
he's claiming he doesn't know what itis. Do you know what only fans

(16:59):
is? Yeah? I know,okay, all right, just making sure
I was. I was like,okay, I've been on the internet before,
right, I was like, oh, they made me feel like that.
I don't think you know that Iwas the degenerate. They made me
feel like I was the horrible person. But well, wait a minute,
how am I? How do youguys not know what this is? But
they're both married, so I understandwhy they have to pretend they don't know
what it is. Parker. Theschedule is out, and uh, the

(17:22):
national media certainly seems infatuated with aWeek two matchup against the Steelers. But
is there any game on this schedulethat's jumping out to you as one you
really want to see? Yeah?I mean there's a bunch of interesting ones.
The Steelers, you know, that'sthat's gonna be a big one for
for obvious reasons. I think it'sinteresting that they put the Sean Payton return

(17:42):
to New Orleans in primetime, eventhough it's a Thursday night. You know,
if you're if you're trying to dialup some travel, having the work
element or the game attendance element onthe way by Thursday night, going into
a weekend in New Orleans, uhis interesting. And then you know,
I mean you've got just you know, there's there's the back to back at

(18:06):
Baltimore at Kansas City. You know, we've known for a while that the
home plate is maybe lacking a littlebit in star power, but certainly,
I mean, you've got sort ofinteresting storylines all the way through, including
week six when we get you know, Jim Harbaugh coming to Empower Field for
the first time back as an NFLcoach. Parker, when you look at
the schedule, is there like thethese intriguing game on the schedule that you're

(18:33):
like, you know what, I'mnot looking forward to that one at all.
Well, we've got ten days afterthe Thursday night game against New Orleans
to get ready for the Carolina Panthersto come to Denver, which you know,
if you're looking at like if youwant to rank the opponents, Okay,
yeah, they're going to be nearthe bottom, but they've got I
mean, there's there's all sorts ofthere's interest there too, especially you know

(18:56):
as someone who's covered the team,been around a lot, you know,
as you guys too, with aziro Vero as a defensive coordinator there.
Obviously you've got you know, JosieJewel, Pete Hansen's the inside linebackers coach
there, You've got some you've gotsome Broncos connections there. But yeah,
I mean that would that's probably theone where it's like, Okay, you
know, it's week eight, you'rein the slog you're still several weeks from

(19:19):
from the bye week. Uh,and you know the this weekend, what
is it? The Panthers? Okay, great, I think you're probably hoping
to run that one up pretty quickly. Panthers, by the way, the
only team in the NFL is noprimetime games this year because the two games
following that Panthers are at the Ravensand at Kansas City, a brutal two
game road stretch there. So Ithink you're probably hoping to get up on

(19:41):
the Panthers early and hit cruise control, am I right? Yeah, definitely.
And not only do you have thosetwo, I mean you've got you
know, so you've kind of gotyou've got Carolina and Atlanta at home,
sandwich around that pair of road gamesthat you talked about Baltimore and Kansas City.
But then you know, you goto Vegas week twelve after that,

(20:02):
and there's just like there's no everybodydoes it at some point, right Like,
there's no great time to place threeout of four weeks on the road.
But having those two big hitters asthe first two, the back to
back on the road, and thenhaving to play a team and you know,
maybe even earlier in the year,but as we're sitting here now,

(20:23):
you know you've lost eight straight tothe Raiders, and not only that,
but you're playing them third road gamein four weeks and twelve weeks into a
stretch where you don't have your buyweek until week fourteen. I mean that
that Broncos fans have learned it's noteasy to go to Vegas and win,
as it is for Denver. That'sa sort of a tough slot. I
think for that game to be well, it's impossible. Denver Broncos have never

(20:47):
beaten the Las Vegas Raiders as itwere. And to add something to the
francas that will be that week.It's f one week in Las Vegas.
Yeah, yeah, that week oneweek in Las Vegas, and then it's
going into Thank Gim. It's justit's all that stuff, you know.
So it's gonna be uh, it'sgonna be quite a scene. Well,
we were talking before you join usabout you know, week fourteen and that

(21:10):
by being so late in the season, and for me being a former player,
to me, I like that sittingright there in the middle with the
Broncos waiting on that bye week atweek fourteen, how problematic could that be
for the team having it so late. Yeah, I'm definitely, like,
you know, there's there's always waysthat's good and bad. Like you know,

(21:33):
you know, you probably don't wantto buy week really early, but
then if you catch a rash ofinjuries in camp that year, maybe it
helps you navigate the first six weeksof the season middles kind of you know,
the ideal And I think I knowat least the last two years they've
been right in that sort of weeknine range, and so that's that's ideal.
You figured it probably wasn't going toland right there again for a third

(21:53):
straight year, and then late youknow, like you really have to make
use of those days after the Weekseven game at New Orleans the Thursday night.
You have to get a lot outof that sort of mini bye week
as it is, you know,same thing with the extra day of rest
theoretically going into that Monday night gamethe week before, and so yeah,

(22:15):
I mean you're going to be youknow, the depth is going to be
tested. You can believe that they'vemade real progress in their sort of you
know, the health and wellness andthe physical conditioning and all of that under
the new ownership group and under SeanPayton, and still be skeptical of the
fact that they're going to be ashealthy as they were last year because they
were just extremely healthy last year.And some of that is fortune in addition

(22:38):
to some of it being that you'vegot people are good who are good at
doing what they're supposed to do.So yeah, fourteen that's a long way
into the season. And then youknow, if you're a playoff team,
hey maybe it helps you get freshbefore a stretch run. We'll see where
they're at. Thirteen weeks at Vegasdoesn't have a lot of respect for the
Denver Broncos a five and a halfwin total. The opening lines for the

(23:02):
Seattle game is out and they area four and a half point dog at
the Seattle Seahawks to open the season. What do you think of those lines?
Yeah, I mean they feel aboutright for where we're at in the
season. I mean, remember,guys, there can be key moves to
be made still in the off season. Last year at this time they hadn't
even signed Frank Clark yet, soI almost nothing, yeah, right,

(23:23):
exactly, yes, So yeah,So, I mean you've pretty much got
what you're gonna have, you know, just a big wild card for the
Broncos obvious obviously as quarterback play,like if you get if you've got league
average quarterback play, like you canactually sort of squint and see how,
you know you can get something outof the way. They've revamped the defensive

(23:45):
line, and you know, maybethey run the ball more efficiently if they
get a similar offensive line performance,better running back play, Like there there
are these avenues that you can say, like if, if, if they
could surprise people. But given thelevel of unknowns at this point, and
you know, the amount of deadcap on the roster and just kind of

(24:06):
where they're at personnel wise, Ithink modest expectations are are you know the
expectation at this point. So yeah, those feel about right from where we
sit right now and now, UsuallyParker and NFO is unlike any other professional
league at the trade deadline, thereare not too many moves. Last year
it was October thirty first. Thisyear's November fifth, and the Broncos play

(24:29):
at the Ravens on November three.Now I'm asking you to do a little
forecasting here. Do you think,based on how the schedule sets up,
that the Broncos could make some movesor might consider it at that November fifth
deadline? Yeah, I mean definitely, like you're always I think. I
think the surprising thing to me wasthat they stood pat and obviously part of

(24:52):
that this past year was that theywon the two games going into the bye
week, which is where the tradedeadline fell, and so you had people
and now you know, we're notgonna we're not gonna affect our long term
strategy and our trade deadline strategy basedon one or two games, and then
like you know, that's what happened. Basically, So you've got you know,
it always takes through to tango.You want to get value if you're

(25:15):
going to trade guys and shoot,like if if you get off to a
good start, I mean, youknow, if you were looking for a
time to add a guy, goinginto those two games would be a good
time to do it. And soto you know, obviously, I think
more likely given the Vegas numbers andall of that, Like you're talking more
likely about being a seller and Icould see it. But at the same

(25:37):
time, like, make you guysknow how Sean Payton's wired. And I
can guarantee you that he's not goingto be sitting there getting ready to go
into that stretch of games at Baltimore, at Kansas City, Atlanta, at
Home and then at Vegas thinking like, oh well, it'll be fine if
you know, we we get ridof a couple guys going into that stretch.

(25:57):
I mean, he wants to figureout a way to go win those
games, as big a task asthat is. Some other scheduling quirks the
Panthers no primetime games. The NewYork Jets are on the other end of
that'spec for um, with six primetime games before week eleven Kansas City between
September fifteenth and November fourth. Theyspan of fifty days, play one game

(26:18):
at Arrowhead a Monday night game againstthe Saints. They will play four road
games in there, Falcons, Chargers, Niners, and Raiders, with a
bye week in the middle fifty daysone home game. Yeah, that is
wild. I mean that's you know, you just you're trying to line up
all the terrible weather Arrowhead, right, like, that's that must be what
that's about, Like carve out themiddle when it's nice, loaded up with

(26:38):
the bad weather. No, everyteam has some sort of weird quirk,
right. I mean the Broncos playIndianapolis in the preseason, then they play
them again down the stretch at home, so yeah, you know, double
the Colets this year. So it'salways it's always a little bit strange.
Like last year the Broncos had thatthree in a row on the road,

(26:59):
which doesn't usually happen. There's alwaysthere's always something weird, and that's you
know, it's kind of funny.I felt the Jets. That's six six
in the first eleven games. It'ssort of easy to easy to lose track
of just how much the NFL wasprimed to just blow out Jets everything last
year until Aaron Rodgers got hurt foursnaps into the year, and so they'll

(27:22):
be making up for lost time thisyear when it comes to the NFL schedule.
There are other factors that I thinkabout and I want to get your
your your standpoint on them because we'veseen so many games move to streaming services.
Last year it was Bill's Kansas Cityon Peacock. So now on NFL

(27:42):
Plus on Thanksgiving there's three NFL games. But more important when you look at
the slate of games on Christmas,there are two games on Christmas on Netflix.
When the league starts doing this,do you feel as though this is
good for viewership? I know it'sgreat for their pockets, but is this
good for viewerships? I mean,it's good for their pockets. Like that's

(28:03):
that's pretty much all there is toit. I think, like and I
don't know. I mean, they'vedone such good numbers on streaming that like,
is it good for fans? No, Like a lot of people have
Netflix, but like they're every year, it seems like there's something where it's
just another thing where it's like alittle bit tougher on fans. You're gonna

(28:25):
flex games on shorter notice, andyou're gonna even though you don't do it
very often. You know, youcan flex the game in or out of
Thursday night, which completely you knowchanges. That was what John Mara,
the Giants president, called, youknow, abusive to fans last year when
they enacted that rule. So there'sall of these there's all of these rules
and you sit there and you scratchyour head and you say, well,

(28:47):
is this is this good for?Is this feasible? And all that?
At the end of the day,like it's because there's more money to be
made and more deals to be cut, and fans will find it, you
know, I mean that they'll builtpony up in the league knows that,
and you know, like we're atthe big meetings in Orlando and that it
was. It was amazing. Itwas when they announced the two games on

(29:08):
Christmas, even though Christmas on aWednesday, and somebody said, hey,
didn't you say you weren't going todo Wednesday? And literally the response was
did you see that the Christmas Daygames last year had thirty million viewers.
It's just like, yeah, ofcourse they're going to do it because people
watch and people pay. And it'sinteresting you talk about people paying talk a
part of Gabriels and different posts.It's interesting because somebody did the math on

(29:30):
this. In order to be ableto watch every game via the streaming,
you have to spend about eight hundreddollars for all the different products that it
takes to get all this and that'snot including paying for the Internet, which
on average is going to cost youadditional form. So it's twelve hundred dollars
to be able to watch every NFLgame. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy,
and I mean I think it's definitelylike part of me, I feel
like, I don't know, Idon't know the day to back this up,

(29:52):
but part of me it feels likesome of this is related to the
fantasy football and sports gambling because peoplehave sort of a broader interest in games
that aren't their teams. I thinklike in their local market. The NFL
has kept through all of this expansion, like if your team is on in
your local market and the games soldout, you can watch it over the

(30:17):
year. Like it's been that way, it's going to be that way.
And so it's really about the abilityto watch everything, or the ability to
watch a Monday night game when youdon't live you know, or the Thursday
night game on Amazon Prime when whenyou're not in New Orleans or Denver,
but that's the game and you wantto watch it, or you've got Audrick

(30:38):
estimate on your fantasy team or whatever. That's where the league just makes a
killing on people being willing to ponyup to be able to watch football.
You know, three four nights aweek starting the season is always tough.
And we watch When Russell Wilson washere, you had to go back to
Seattle and I don't know if you'veever been in that kind of that stadium,

(31:00):
but it is loud. It isloud all over the place. But
now with both Nicks being drafted bythe Broncos and some projecting that he would
possibly be the starting quarterback come weekone the difficulties for any quarterback, let
alone or young quarterback in that particularenvironment. Let's just say he is the

(31:22):
starting quarterback. How do you anticipatehe would handle that atmosphere with a lot
of silent count probably? I mean, it's uh, it's gonna be it's
gonna be crazy. I mean,it's a super it's a super interesting matchup.
Not only could it be obviously boNix's debut if you win the starting
job, but you know, MikeMcDonald is sort of the new poster boy

(31:44):
for defense in the NFL, andand it's gonna be his first game as
a head coach, and so youhave this sort of like there's gonna be
a lot of new in that game, and so you just you know,
you're you're going back up to Obviouslyhe didn't play, you know, in
that stadium. Bo Nicks didn't incollege, but he had the great battles

(32:05):
with the University of Washington. Heplayed in that part of the country for
two years. Like, there's alot of interesting storylines in that game,
even though it's obviously not Russell Wilsongoing back there for his first game in
Denver after ten years in Seattle.But yeah, I mean that's a big
challenge, right, Like even thoughSeattle's defense is going to be figuring itself
out new system, first game,first time out with real live action and

(32:28):
all that, So it would bewould be pretty remarkable if that's if that's
Bo Mix's first start in the NFL. Yeah, I mean, you say
Michael McDonald and a lot new goingon there, and I hear Michael McDonald,
I usually think of a lot oldin the backing vocals for right like
the win. But I digress.Parker as good as always to talk to
you. We got to hit abreak, buddy, but good to hear
from him, yeps. That absolutelypark Gabriel never post. It's Nebroncos country

(32:52):
tonight right here on Kowa Say fiftyam ninety four NFL News Talk Sports